Hoosick Falls Central School District

In an effort to wrap up May's Mental Health Awareness month and tabling events during lunch periods, Middle School Counselors, Ms. Thompson and Mrs. Sacks, arranged for Stewart's Shops to donate ice cream to Middle and High School students on May 19! As part of the Positivity Project, the students in their guide sections (5th, 6th, and 7th graders) collectively agreed that Stewart's is a pillar in their community. Many students shared that they have parents and/or relatives who work there. During a section of the 5th-grade guide and following a Positivity Project's lesson on "exhibits”, students created posters of what makes Hoosick Falls special. The students included historical things too but, this was the extra fun one!

In the days following the event, the students in Ms. Thompson’s and Mrs. Sacks’ sections who scooped ice cream for their school community were asked to complete a brief survey about what they learned. Here are some of their answers below:

Q: What was the BEST part of scooping ice cream?
A: Scooping for others, giving it out (this was a common answer throughout)

Q: Was there something that surprised you about working?
A: How hard it was to scoop, some people are impatient, "the rush" (crowds), so many people came for ice cream!

Q: What did you learn from working your shift? (It looks like they learned A LOT! :))
A: Not everything is easy, work is a responsibility, that watching the enjoyment of others made me happy, scooping is fun!, work requires patience, the better the teamwork the faster the work gets done, helping people is nice, to be grateful for what we have, how to scoop ice cream, I can handle crowds, the high schoolers were polite to us, working with others can be hard sometimes, working together is better than working alone, working with friends is fun!, the smallest things can bring happiness, that I do not want to work as an ice cream scooper when I'm older, and patience.

Q:Was there something that you didn't like about the event or would do differently next time?
A: Most wrote "Nothing, It was fun!" Some added: Scoop all of the ice cream ahead of time (e.g. planning skills, executive functioning!), toppings, and more scooping tables. More workers!

Q: Why is it important for different members of the community to work together? Think about how the farmers milk the cows, the truck drivers bring the milk to the Stewart’s plant to make ice cream, the workers at the plant make the ice cream, another truck driver delivers the ice cream boxes to the Stewart’s Shops, the Stewart’s employees sell the ice cream, customers in the community buy the ice cream and eat it!
A: For us to stay connected, if different people work together then everybody can put their input on what they are doing so there are more different ideas, If people are yelling and doing whatever they want, the ice cream won't be good, if the farmer didn't give the milk to the plant - we wouldn't have ice cream, so others can be happy, everything will fall apart if they don't work together, because you can end up with something great, without others helping others - nothing will get done, to build friendship, so that everyone has access to resources, we can make things better together, build a better bond, know more people, gets their kids to college, so people like us can have it and people that make it have money, team work.

Q: Is there anything else that you would like to add or comment about?
A: It was fun!!! A really good idea, thankful, longer shifts, Thank you, Stewarts!, 10/10, would do it again!, ice cream was melting by 7/8 lunches - maybe have a cooler nearby

In their own words, students learned about/focused on teamwork, community, planning skills, communication, work ethic, rewards for working hard, and how helping other people also benefits the person giving. Thank you to Stewart’s Shops for supporting our school and students, and thank you to our Middle School Counselors for organizing this fantastic event!